Lexar is bolstering its mid-range SD card options with three new capacity options. The Silver line, which sports solid max read and write speeds and a V30 rating, comes in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB capacity options for as little as $15. SD cards have gotten incredibly cheap over the last few years, especially compared to the extremely high prices of CFexpress cards. Most photographers still prefer SD cards because of this and the fact they have widespread support, and Lexar is bolstering its line with more capacity options that come in at very low prices. Lexar’s branding is a bit confusing — it launched a Silver and Silver Plus set of cards with the latter being worse than the former — but the specifications are pretty straightforward. Firstly, the new cards promise 205MB/s max read speeds and 150MB/s max write speeds on the standard Silver while the Plus has a slightly slower 140MB/s write speed. That’s the confusing part: the “Plus” branding denotes worse performance. Both the Silver and Silver Plus line are rated V30, however, so the company only promises sustained performance at 30 MB/s. The cards are also only UHS-I. That means neither the Silver nor the Silver plus SD cards are going to be fast enough to support most high-end cameras’ top-end features, but as long as photographers aren’t pushing their cameras to the max, they should suffice. Lexar says the speed is enough to support 4K video capture at up to 60 frames per second, but this will vary depending on the camera. Lexar says the Silver series is drop-proof, temperature-proof, x-ray-proof, shockproof, magnetic-proof, and vibration-resistant “Our Silver series cards offer outstanding performance and reliability for users who want to capture great shots and video in 4K,” Joey Lopez, Director of Brand Marketing at Lexar, says. “We’re excited to offer our customers more product options so that they can find the solution that best suits their needs.”
While performance is similar, pricing and capacity options between the Silver and Silver Plus SD cards varies. The Silver Plus UHS-I cards are available in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB capacities for $15, $30, and $60, respectively. The Silver UHS-I cards are available in 128GB and 256GB capacities only for $30 and $60, respectively.
